There is an old saying that I think most of us can say we have heard at least once in our lives. We have all heard at one time or another the words "this too shall pass". Whoever the genius poet was that came up with that rather simple but also rather comforting phrase should be awarded a medal. It is this simple phrase that has gotten quite a few people through a rather difficult time in their lives when they found themselves in the midst of a storm with no chance of sunshine in sight. This phrase has almost become a mantra for some of us as we shuffle along in our daily lives. We just repeat the words over and over to ourselves, praying and hoping for an ounce of strength to carry on and not give up. Sometimes it is a little bit difficult to remind ourselves that the rain can't last forever; especially when you feel like the storm will never let up.
One of the many lessons that one learns in this life is that you have to push forward even when you don't see a reason to. For many of us twenty something year old's, we are in a place in our lives right now where we are more than likely in school working on some degree that will hopefully better us in the future. It seems like right now that you'll never be done with school. In fact you have probably thought on more than one occasion that dropping out would be the most logical, and cost savvy thing to do. Trust me when I say you're not alone in that thinking. But as it is, you decide you're too far in this now to quit so you push on. You just keep reminding yourself of how amazing it will feel to walk across the stage to receive your diploma in front of your friends and family and how amazing it will feel when you can hang your diploma on the wall. All your late night study sessions, hand cramps, and tears will pay off one day when you're working in a job that you're good at and that you love. That's your motivation to get through, right?
For most of us twenty something year old's, we have probably found ourselves working in some dead end, part-time job that we sometimes hate. We started working this job to make some money to pay for school tuition and books and just to have a little bit of spending money only to find that the mental strain of this job is just not worth the little bit of cash we make. For most of us who work part-time jobs we have to deal with some pretty serious mental and emotional strain because we hate going into work at a place that we are just not happy at. Serving food for a $5 tip is not an ideal Saturday night for most of us but we drag ourselves into work anyway and plaster on a smile to make a little bit of cash. We put up with the constant dysfunction at this place we work at for more than one reason. The first and the most important is of course the money isn't terrible, but we also stay in this really draining job because it's close to home and it's not a terrible job. We recognize it isn't a terrible job but we also know we have to deal with a whole hell of a lot just to get by.
Every time we get stuck closing again for the fifth time that week while everyone else gets to go home early or every time we have to deal with our bosses telling us how terrible we are at our job or picking up slack with no raise or recognition, we think, this can't last forever. In fact dealing with these sorts of things is just the motivation we need to push us forward so that we won't have to be stuck in this dead end job forever. If we can just push through and suck it up for a little while longer then one day all the crap we have to deal with now will pay off. One day, we think, we won't have to deal with this sort of nonsense. We could be our own boss one day if we work hard enough. So that's what we do. We work incredibly hard to get out of the rut we are in; even if that means whining every time we leave work or school; we push through.
Having to learn that the place we're in right now is only temporary is promising, but it's difficult to accept that the place we're in is just where we'll have to be for a little while until we're ready to move on to bigger and better things. It's not easy to accept that for just a little bit you'll have to live in a sleepy, small town and you'll have to put in the long hours at work and spend the whole night studying. In fact it really sucks to have to accept that fact. But "this too shall pass" we tell ourselves. It will pass. Eventually. Nothing can last forever after all. So, just put on a smile and whine when you feel like it, but don't let it bog you down. You'll live your dreams one day. That day just may not be today.
